The availability of nanostructured materials has enabled numerous sensing technologies to leverage their advanced material properties in order to significantly improve performance and robustness. Bioassays using nanoparticle labels have the potential to be implemented as part of a miniaturized, portable device for the in-situ monitoring of bacteria. Despite the efforts in developing nanoparticle based assays to advance bioanalytics, the related DNA detection technologies are relatively recent and are still in the early stage of development.
Several studies project the production of CNTs at millions of tons in 2010 and the worldwide market for nanoproducts as $1 trillion by 2015. The escalating pace, scope, and scale at which engineered nanomaterials such as CNTs are being produced and used in numerous aspects of our lives parallel that of asbestos more than a century ago. Just as the newly industrialized world in the 1800s was mesmerized by the versatility of asbestos, the past few decades have witnessed burgeoning interest in the unique properties of engineered nanomaterials. As history has a tendency to repeat itself, it is not surprising that health implications of CNTs have begun to surface. Potential health risks of CNTs have been demonstrated in mice, rats, pigs, and human skin, all of which have experienced consequences of various diseases or cancer. Unfortunately, there are no CNT specific detection and quantification technologies developed for field studies on potential CNT contaminated sites.